Last goodbye
by Cadyn Brewer-Sidelia Miller
Summary: Annie has a crystal surrounding her. Everyday Armin visits her, along with a reluctant Eren (who opposes it), and Mikasa. Then Armin misses her final movement. *One-shot better than sounds*


A/N: First Attack on Titan fic. Armin/ Annie and Eren/ Mikasa. Takes place after the season (or series) finale. Enjoy.

...

Armin stood on one of the bridges staring that led to the giant crystal that Annie had encased herself in. Visting the crystal was a new routine for the blond boy. He had liked Annie for quite some time but when she didn't kill him...

He wanted to believe that he was wrong. He didn't want to accept the fact that Annie had set any of these things in motion. But she did. The day she found him laying in the grass and she didn't kill him.

*But why?* Armin thinks. *Why did she keep me alive?* That was the thought that alwaysed crossed his mind. Sometimes he would start to think that it was because she liked him in the same way he did her but regarded the thought. She had liked Eren (much to Mikasa's jealousy) and he seemed to have returned her feelings (though Armin new otherwise).

A few feet behind him Eren was glaring at the crystal. "Why does he do this? He just comes and stares. I don't get why, she betrayed us."

"Eren," Mikasa says calmly, "how would you feel if that were me in there?"

"What? Don't talk like that!" He whisper shouts. "Don't you dare talk like that."

"I'm just saying Eren what would you do if I were in that crystal? Would you visit and wonder why? Or would you glare and scream at me for the things I did? Or would you just not visit at all?"

That got to Eren. He cares for Mikasa as more than a friend, or sister for that matter, and if he did lose her...

No. He just couldn't bare to even think that.

"Besides, she cares for him as he does for her."

"Why are you doing their?"

"Doing what?"

"You're talking about Annie as if she were still alive."

"It's easy: Because she is. I don't think of Annie as dead but more like as if she were in a coma. And maybe...maybe one day she'll break herself out or will get her out."

"Do you think, if she ever comes out, that she would still be sixteen or would she have aged?"

"It's hard to say. That's something that we'll need to see."

...

Armin just kept staring at Annie. Besides her sparing him that day other thoughts would cross his mind like:

What was her reason? Was it because he was one of Eren's best friends? Did she harbor secret feelings for him? Did she want to impress Eren (even though he was in love with his adoptive sister)?

Armin didn't know and has come to (even though he didn't want to) accept the fact that he might never know.

...

Eren and Mikasa just stayed in their spot and stared at their grieving friend. "I almost killed her in her Titan form." Mikasa finally says.

"What?" Eren looks at her.

"Right after she took you out of the nape in your Titan form. I saw it. I wanted to kill her right then and there. But, oh was it? Levi? Jean? I can't remember. Anyway when one of them came along they said that you might have been dead but I didn't believe it.

"So when we finally got you back I practically attacked her. Whoever it was that was with me wasn't happy. He said something like: 'We all get that you love him but don't let revenge blind you.' But I did.

"She took you away from me and I wanted to take her away."

Eren unclenched his fists from the wooden rail behind him (a strange serge of anger serged through him when she brought up Jean's name. Jean must've been secretly happy when he thought that Eren was dead. And another emotion serged through him when he heard the Mikasa might love him. One he could only describe as pure joy. He felt butterflies in his stomach and he felt sweat (even though it wasn't visible)).

"It's alright Eren." She says. "I'll always be there for you; and not just because I'm sticking up for you. I'll be there for you as a friend, a sister," a lover. She secretly adds in her head.

Eren smirks. He knew that Mikasa would always be his friend but he was also upset that she had said sister. Did that mean that she did recuperate the same feelings that he had for her.

"Eren," Mikasa says gently. "Who would you have picked?"

"What?" He was thrown of guard. "What are you talking about?"

The raven haired girl takes a deep breath. "When Annie first arrived people thought that you two had a thing...others thought that you were trying to make someone jealous. So people started to rager bets on who you would pick: Me or Annie. A little more than half thought that it would be Annie the others thought that it would be me. So I'm asking you now: Who would you pick, me or Annie?"

Eren takes in a deep breath. "You." He breathes out.

"What? Are you sure? I mean you're saying that now; but who would you pick before...when she first came."

He hadn't thought of that. Who would he pick? He had thought that he would always have Mikasa but when Annie came...he...he thought that...oh what did he think? That he could have both? He never did think about what would happen if he had to pick between Annie and Mikasa.

Mikasa had always been there for him...but Annie...

"Who would you pick?"

"I don't know. You've always been there for me - even when I felt like I didn't need it. But I did trust Annie...so...I don't know. I mean Armin and Annie seemed to have a thing...so I'm not sure who'd I pick." He shakes his head. "Anyway what about you? Who would you pick? If it came down to me and Jean, who would you pick?"

That was something that had been on his mind for awhile now. He knew that Jean had liked Mikasa and if he had the opportunity, which Eren was sure he would do, he'd propose to her. But if Eren knew Mikasa like he thought than she'd slap him then knock him across the wall (and that's just her being polite to him while saying no.).

"You." She says. "I have no doubt that Jean would try and whoo me at every try he got. [...] I get the feeling that once I did he may not know what to do since I've resisted him for so long. But we grew up together. There's no doubt that I would choose you."

A moment of silence fallows and Eren speaks up again. "What did you feel,"

"What do you mean?"

"When Annie had taken me out of my Titan form, before we knew, what did you feel?"

"I felt...I felt anger. Just so much pure anger...I just wanted to get you back before you were really gone." She laughs. "It's actually kinda funny because I could feel that you were still alive when Levi or Jean tried to say you were dead. He was just smart enough to believe me.

"He even...he didn't want me to attack her but once I saw you I attacked. Just...the anger took over and I attacked. He even...he even..."

"He what?"

"He even said 'I get that you love him but try and not go crazy.' Can you believe it?" Yes. Eren could. He did love Mikasa (as more than a sister) but he refused to admit it (as did Mikasa.).

"Guys?" Startled by the new voice the two non-siblings turned to their friend who was staring at them. "Ready to go?"

Eren turned back to his earlier scowl and Mikasa put her head down slightly both indicating that they were. Passing by them Armin took the lead; he had his head down as a tear slid down. He didn't want his friends to see him like that about a "traitor."

Behind him Mikasa also had her head down feeling what Armin was. She wanted Eren but couldn't have him, like Armin and Annie she noted. But there was a difference: Mikasa could tell Eren how she felt and she doesn't have to come down and stare at a crystal weeping over him being gone.

She wanted to tell him that it would get better, but how could she? In a way she was jealous of Armin; he could tell Frozen Annie how he felt without a response but she couldn't tell Eren since he could just laugh at her and say that he doesn't feel the same.

...

Two months later

Eren and Armin were at the lake just staring at it. They really haven't talked all day - except for when Eren asked him if he wanted to go to the lake to hang out.

"Why did you ask me here?" The blond asks the raven haired male.

"I guess...I guess I just thought that we needed to get away from everything; y'know just time to think that everything is right with the world."

"I guess. Hey Eren can we head back now?"

"Sure. Why?"

"There's something...there's something I need to do."

...

Later that night Armin was in the underground tunnel staring at crystalized titan. "Hey...Annie, I know you can't hear me but...but I want to say one last goodbye. After tonight I won't...I won't be around that much. I mean with the Titan's no longer a threat the city's rebuilding without the walls. And before I go there's something I need to tell you Annie: I love you. I say love as I'm unsure if you'll come back or not. Anyway that's what I wanted to say. Goodbye."

As Armin left he had missed the only movement from Annie in months - she smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek.


End file.
